As Occult Fires Burn, Christianity Fades From Memory
From Jesus Christ to the Burning Man, a sad but revealing study in contrasts
 
Thomas Horn
 

Springfield, MO — An article by Tim Ross and Martin Beckford for the UK Telegraph this week cites a study published by the Church of England concluding that people "born after 1982 - known as 'Generation Y' - have only a 'faded cultural memory' of Christianity." 

Most young people today define themselves by a "secular trinity of family, friends and the reflexive self", the study found, giving them an "immanent faith" based on relationships in this world.

"Fewer than one in five young people believe in a God 'who created the world and hears my prayers', and teenagers were more likely to believe in the 'nicer' parts of religious doctrine than those about the devil and punishment" the article continues.

"Their images of God tended to be of 'an old man with a beard', while pop songs were played at memorial services 'because the young congregation did not know any hymns'.

In contrast to the Church of England study, here in the United States the pagan-driven occult Burning Man Festival 2010 held a few weeks ago was bigger than ever, surpassing last year's tens of thousands of participants as the number of earth-worshipping pagans swelled the ranks of party-goers from across Canada, Brazil, Germany, Russia, and 25 other countries to an isolated corner of Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

As in the past, this year's clothing-optional Burning Man offered a no-holds-barred "Woodstock" style festival where neo-pagans, wiccans, transvestitie entertainers, curiosity seekers and hedonists went to trance, perform rituals, burn sacrifices to deities, fornicate, and otherwise "express" themselves.

The 40-foot-high effigy Burning Man (the "Spirit Cave Man"— sacred to local Indians and New Agers) was torched as usual together with just about everything else at the close of the festivity.

UNDERSTANDING THE OCCULT FIRES PHENOMENON

The spirit of the occult has existed since the beginning of time. Like an insidious cancer—unseen, patient, deadly—it has grown.  Indications of its presence have been felt occasionally, and confirmations of its actuality have been documented from Black Rock Desert to Washington D.C.

As we approach the culmination of the "new order of the ages," cult experts forecast a continuing revival of such mysticism. As church attendance continues to decline across Britain and the United States, adherents of the occult will expand their "services" to meet the desires and mystical interests of a spiritually hungry world. 

New Age expert Judy Vorfeld emailed me to confirm: "Dabbling in the realm of the occult is currently stylish.  Even some Christians seem unable to avoid the attraction of this colorful, seductive world."

She's right. From Burning Man festivals to public school Environmental Education to faddish television good-guys and bad-girls, today’s generation is lapping up as much New Age Occultianity as they can get their hands on. Whether it's comic book heroes that teach youth the dangerous Persephonian idea that a person can be in league with the devil and still be a good person, or the syncretistic goals of the Burning Man, the glowing fire of pagan revival can no longer be denied.

THE REAL BURNING MAN

From a Biblical point of view, powerful and ancient entities are behind the increase in paganism. In the air above and the earth beneath are nefarious progenitors of esoteric mysticism. "Demons" to some and "gods" to others, such forces have numerous titles. They can appear in hideous forms or as beautiful angels of light. They are the "wicked spirits" (poneria: the collective body of demon soldiers comprising Satan’s hordes), "rulers of darkness" (kosmokrators: governing spirits of darkness), "powers" (exousia: high ranking powers of evil), and "principalities" (arche: commanding generals over Satan’s fallen army) of Ephesians 6:12. As the "gods and goddesses" of the underworld, they live today and are manifesting themselves among pagans, witches, New Agers and church-goers in at least the following ways:

  •      Aphrodite—sensuality, fertility rites, wiccan rituals, sacred prostitution.
  •      Amun-Ra—masturbation, self realization, environmentalism, Darwinism.
  •      Apis—animal worship, animal rights, animal channeling, occultianity.
  •      Apollo—humanism, oracles, channeling, psychics, drugs, visualization.
  •      Artemis—goddess worship, animal worship, animal rights, lesbianism.
  •      Asclepius—holistic medicine, psychic dreaming, spirit-guide animals.
  •      Athene—goddess worship, feminism, the spirituality movement, lesbianism.
  •      Baal—oracles, polytheism, abortion, fertility issues.
  •      Demeter—environmental education, earth worship, goddess worship.
  •      Dionysus—drunkeness, freudianism, ecstasy, pornography, lesbianism, abortion.
  •      Eros—eroticism, mystic sex, body worship, body piercing, sacred prostitution.
  •      Gaia—earth worship, environmentalism, paganism, pantheism, sweat lodges.
  •      Geb—environmental movement, animal rights, eco-paganism.
  •      Hades—devil worship, occultism, spiritism, necromancy.
  •      Hathor—goddess worship, earth worship, animal rights, animal worship.
  •      Hecate—witchcraft, necromancy, crystals, spells, druidism, feminism.
  •      Heka—mysticism, demonism, animal rights, environmentalism.
  •      Hypnos—hypnotism, psychic dreaming, prognostication, e.s.p., clairvoyance.
  •      Imhoteb—mystic healing, animal dancing, holistic medicine, vision quests.
  •      Isis—wicca, witchcraft, goddess worship, magic, channeling, visualization.
  •      Min and Qetesh—fertility rites, body worship, sensuality, pornography.
  •      Osiris—occultianity, necromancy, anthropomorphism, occultism, spiritism.
  •      Persephone—animism, zoroastrianism, dualism, magic, necromancy.
  •      Ptah—universalism, pantheism, mysticism, holistic medicine.
  •      Sekhmet—environmentalism, mystic medicine, animal worship.
  •      Seth—homosexuality, rebellion, earth worship, environmental movement.
  •      Vatchit—devil worship, channeling, trancing, visualization, necromancy.
  •      Zeus—satanism, transexualism, pantheism, oracles, animal worship.

By whatever names they may otherwise be called, the underworld spirits elevated in the Burning Man are gathering the combined forces of the kingdom of Satan toward a conspiracy of apocalyptic proportions. As a consequence, we are experiencing an unprecedented pagan revival mirrored by church abandonment at a time when the United States and Britain are considered the most advanced economic and technological powers in the world.

WHERE IS THIS LEADING? 

Billy Graham says, "Lucifer, our archenemy, controls one of the most powerful and well-oiled war machines in the universe. He controls principalities, powers, and dominions.  Every nation, city, village, and individual has felt the hot breath of his evil power.  He is already gathering the nations of the world for the last great battle in the war against Christ—Armageddon."

Many pagans such as attend Burning Man would disagree with Graham, saying they reject the idea of personal evil spirits including Satan and his angels. The concepts of Hell and a future Great Judgment are also disregarded. But the reality of Hell and the doom of Satan's followers is described in the Bible. The "old gods" of the underworld will be destroyed by Yahweh. "The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth" (Zeph. 2:11). "The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish...the gods" (Jer. 46:25). Yahweh will also punish the leader of the gods, that old serpent, called the Devil, and his human followers. 

In Isaiah it says:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isa. 26:20-27:1)

However futile, the pagan gods will retaliate, and a battle of indescribable intensity will occur. This is the war mentioned by Graham. It will be fought on land and sea, in the heavens above, and in the earth below, in the physical and spiritual worlds. It will include "Michael and his angels [fighting] against the dragon; and the dragon [fighting] and his angels" (Rev. 12:7). According to the Bible, last days pagans will join the battle, calling upon "idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood" (Rev. 9:20) to summon "the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the Kings of the earth...to gather them to the battle of that great day...[to] a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon" (Rev. 16:13-14; 16). There, in the valley of Megiddo, the omnipotent Christ will utterly repel the forces of darkness and destroy the pagan armies. Blood will flow like rivers, and the fowl of the air will "eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth." 

Between now and then, true Christian's have opportunity to preach the same Gospel that caused the pagan Oracle at Delphi to surrender in 362 A.D. To the physician of the Emperor Julian, the Byzantine ruler who tried to restore paganism after Christianity had become the official religion of the Byzantine Empire, the god Apollo sent message: "Tell the King," said the oracle, "that the curiously built temple has fallen to the ground, that bright Apollo no longer has a roof over his head, or prophetic laurel, or babbling spring. Yes, even the murmuring water has dried up."

Whether the Gospel will be preached is the question.